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My weird after-Christmas

Yeah, I know, Christmas is just a memory now, but some things happened that made me feel like a very lucky guy… in a strictly materialistic sort of way.

Christmas was, from a loot perspective, below average. Not that I cared much. I’d just enjoyed spending a couple weeks with Gill’s parents and the atmosphere was very chill and cozy, pretty much what you want a Christmas to be once you’re beyond the age where you see it only as a toy bonanza. I’d gotten The Martian novel from Gill, which is awesome because of how much I loved the movie and want to see just how much more there is to that story. If that had been my only present it would have been enough.

The toy bonanza came when we got back home after New Year’s.

Seems my brother and Jen went completely mental and sent us a Playstation 4. That in and of itself would have left me gobsmacked except for the face that another friend gave us a $200 gift certificate for Bed Bath & Beyond.

Then, as the days went on more things started happening. A friend I know from the game Elite Dangerous sent me not only his old iPad Air (he’d just gotten a newer model) but his old graphics card–one which blew the one I currently have out of the water. These may be hand-me-downs, but they’re far from cheap! I had to make sure there wasn’t somebody in his life who could use them more first before I could accept.

My dad did something similar, sending me his old Gameboy DS cartridges (I’d gotten Gillian a 2DS for Christmas, and the cartridges are compatible, so this will keep her from buying new games for quite a while!)

Even my sister and nephew had gotten in on the act. The present I’d thought I’d gotten from Nicolas was a cute little Duplo animal set… which confused me but amused me. Turned out it was the wrong present and had been for someone else. What they actually meant to give me was a Lego Minecraft set. After Elite Dangerous, Minecraft was probably the game I spent the most hours on, and the set is a very cool and thoughtful gift from both of them.

This might all sound like bragging, “Gee, look what I got!” kind of thing, but I had to give the details because it helps express just how stunned I was by it all, because I’d expected none of it. Hell, it made me paranoid for a while, like somehow the universe was going to drop a toilet on my head from space and this was to make up for it a bit before I snuffed it.

I’m trying to pass on my good fortunate as much as possible. For example, my dad and brother Adamm are getting my old PS3 and games (something Adamm’s wanted for a long time). Nicolas gets my wife’s old Gameboy DS, as well as splitting the games Dad sent between them. My old graphics card is going to a friend in Ontario who could use an upgrade (it’s still a good card, make no mistake). The money I saved not having to get a PS4 myself is going to go towards a trip to Toronto to visit Wyatt and his family and friends… you get the idea.

So anyway, that was my post-Christmas and pre-birthday season. Certainly the most surprising thing to happen to me in 2016… but then it’s early days yet.